Anchor shag tobacco label T-shirt White

Late 1800's label for loose, fine shredded tobacco, for pipes. The tobacco was wrapped in a cylinder shape or sometinmes a block. 

Joseph Sales (d. 1814) and John Pollard were tobacco merchants and partners based out of Smithfield Bars in London, who were working together as early as 1763.

The two were joined in partnership in 1780 by a William Yates, and their firm would quickly become very large indeed. Remarkeably in the years immediately prior to 1790 it alone was responsible for contributing one-third of all monies raised by the British government from duties levied on tobacco.